


Probably

by parttimehuman



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Liam has a really bad day, M/M, Theo takes care of him, probably, they're in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 14:15:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17982659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parttimehuman/pseuds/parttimehuman
Summary: It's late, it's dark, it's raining. Liam is hungry, he's alone, he's tired, he's almost made it halfway to home when he falls and hurts his ankle.When Liam already thought it was never going to happen anymore, Theo shows up to take care of him.





	Probably

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wolfenboy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfenboy/gifts).



It was dark outside by the time Liam finally stumbled out through the heavy doors of the library. It hadn't necessarily been his plan to spend all afternoon hunched over books and terrible attempts of homework, but there he was, finally giving up and getting on the way home, his tired limbs aching and his brain practically dead.

 

Mason had been of help with chemistry for a while after school, but it was Mason's and Corey's anniversary, so even if his best friend had offered to stay and help Liam with math too, Liam had declined and battled his worksheet on his own. He still wasn't sure he'd won as he dumped his backpack in the passenger seat of his mom's car, but at least it was over.

 

More than ready for dinner and some Netflix before bed, Liam put his seatbelt on and started the engine, or rather tried to, because except for some weak spluttering, there was nothing.

 

"Oh no," Liam whined, "please. Please don't leave me hanging now."

 

His mother's car was so old you had to roll the windows up and down with a crank handle. There were scratches all over it and a few bumps here and there, which was the entire reason why Liam was allowed to take it to school sometimes, but still, did it really have to die right in that moment? Liam prayed that not, took a deep breath out and turned the key in the ignition again.

 

Again, the engine refused to come to life.

 

It turned out that the third time wasn't the charm, and neither was the fourth, sixth, or tenth time. Finally, Liam stopped trying and sunk bank against his seat. His mom was home, but she didn't have a car to pick him up, David was most definitely working a late shift at the hospital, Liam still didn't think it was fair to keep Mason away from the date night with Corey. Hayden was gone, Scott and Stiles were out in the world living their lives, Brett would laugh at him and then hang up if he called him for help, and there was nobody else left.

 

With an annoyed sigh, Liam climbed out of the stupid, traitorous car, got his backpack and started walking. His stomach growled and Liam was tempted to simply growl back.

 

The air was cold and blowing harshly right into his face as he walked, tearing at his hair and freezing his ears. The jacket he'd wrapped tightly around his body wasn't warm enough, but Liam hadn't planned to be outside that late, let alone walk the entire way home from school. It smelled like rain was on its way, and truly, that was the only thing missing to make the catastrophe perfect.

 

It seemed like a matter of time, like Liam was racing the weather. The great flood could come over Beacon Hills once he was home, he didn't care, if only he'd make it in time.

 

Realizing that in  fifteen minutes, he hadn't made it very far, Liam fished his phone from the pocket of his jeans to at least call home and let his mom know he was alright and on his way, only to find it dead. Of course, he thought to himself. The books in his backpack got heavier with every step he took.

 

Needless to say, the rain was faster than Liam was.

 

The first couple of drops on the tip of his nose spurred him on to hurry, but minutes later, the clouds were opening up and rain came lashing down on him, soaking his clothes and shoes and probably ruining everything he had in his backpack. Liam was at least half an hour away from home still. On a more positive note, he didn't think anything worse could happen. All that was left to do was to keep walking and wait for the day to be done with him.

 

Not seeing the ground beneath his feet through the curtain of rain, Liam stepped into one puddle after the other, not that his socks could get any more wet, or his feet any colder. One puddle wasn't just a puddle though, and somehow, Liam's foot got stuck.

 

"Ow, fuck!" He cursed, pulling at his leg and falling, landing on the ground, the weight of the backpack heavy in his neck, causing him to hit the concrete not only with his palms but with his chin as well. Pain shot through him and made him hiss. Liam freed himself of the straps of his backpack first and then rolled onto his side. His foot was free again, but his ankle hurt in a way he was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to.

 

Liam pulled himself up, but putting his foot down and his body weight on it sent a hot sting of pain up his leg and through his body. Through clenched teeth, he let out a low grunt before he let himself fall back on his ass. Because life never stopped sucking, he sat right in the freaking puddle that had been his downfall in the first place, but his misery didn't have any potential left to grow anyway, or so he thought.

 

"Liam?" A voice called his name from behind him. It sounded familiar, but the tone was off, so Liam couldn't place it immediately.

 

"Are you okay?" The voice asked.

 

Stupid question, Liam thought to himself. The world was apparently out to get him, and no, he wasn't okay at all.

 

"I'm fine," he pressed out, making another attempt to stand up but losing his balance.

 

"Are you sure? Here, let me help you."

 

A hand appeared in front of his face, reaching out in an offer to help. It might have looked like Liam needed it badly, but his eyes followed the arm it was attached to upwards until they landed on the face of Theo Raeken, and Liam kind of forgot for a moment where he was.

 

"Theo?" He asked dumbly. "What are you doing here?" It seemed odd, somehow, for Theo to be there when nobody else was, although Liam had no clue why he felt that way.

 

"I live here," Theo answered, pointing at the house behind Liam's back. "I saw you walking by. Are you hurt?"

 

Liam was hurt, yes. He'd been hurt by Theo's sudden appearance in Beacon Hills two summers earlier, and the things it had done to him. The drastic changes and inexplicable emotions that had been too much to deal with at the time. Mostly, he'd been hurt by Theo's retreat just when Liam had started to think he could somehow work it out, that it might be worth it after all.

 

With Scott out of town and Theo out of high school, it had looked for months now like there was nothing left between Liam and Theo, which made him wonder if there ever had been anything to begin with.

 

"I'll be fine," Liam murmured, "just gotta get home somehow."

 

"I can drive you," Theo offered. "As soon as the rain eases off a bit, that is. You can barely see anything out here right now."  He wriggled his hand in front of Liam's face and raised an eyebrow. "Are you coming in or do you want to wait on the sidewalk?"

 

Liam kind of didn't want to. He didn't want Theo to see him in proper light, didn't want to explain himself, didn't want to be the mess of a person that he looked like at the moment, not in front of Theo, who had his shit together and a soft smile on his lips, who was everything that Liam couldn't have. Meanwhile, he kind of wanted nothing more badly. It wasn't even about shelter from the pouring rain, or help with his hurt ankle. It was curiosity about Theo's home and a tingly feeling beneath Liam's skin.

 

Liam shut his mouth before he could decline, but he got up without Theo's help, unable to suppress the noise of pain when he stood on both feet again.

 

"That really doesn't look so good," Theo pointed out. Although Liam jumped and pulled away at the first touch, Theo slung an arm around his waist and laid Liam's arm over his shoulders, steadying him. "Okay?" He asked then, waiting for Liam's nod before they slowly moved to the front door. Theo opened the door for him and went back to get the backpack that Liam had forgotten was still lying in the rain.

 

It was the strangest thing, to enter an apartment that had Theo's things all over it, where the air smelled like Theo, where it was warm and safe and tidy and actually quite pretty, where Liam felt safe but at the same time like he didn't belong. He and Theo had once gotten so incredibly close, and yet he'd never pictured any other part of Theo's life than the one spent together.

 

Theo had made Liam leave his shoes and taken his jacket at the door since they'd been dripping wet, but he still felt uncomfortable moving. He felt like a wet dog and was probably reeking like one, too, but unlike a dog, he was careful not to ruin any carpets or sofa cushions.

"I, uh, nice place," Liam stammered, following Theo into the kitchen on tippy toes although his ankle definitely wasn't totally alright.

 

"Thanks. Should I make tea? I feel like you could use something to warm up, right? Why were you even out there in this weather?"

 

Liam sighed deeply. "I lost track of time at the library. My grades shouldn't be this bad this close to finals, but my brain just doesn't want to understand anything, it seems. Unless Mason explains it, that is, but today's Mason and Corey's one-year-anniversary, so he went home and I stayed a little longer, and when I wanted to go home, my mom's stupid car died, and there was nobody who could have picked me up, and then I was almost halfway home, but it started raining."

 

Theo filled a kettle with water from the tap and turned it on. He turned around to Liam and looked at him, taking in the hair sticking to his face and his wet clothes, seeming unhappy with what he was seeing. "You could have called me," he said, "I could have picked you up."

 

Liam didn't know what to say. He hadn't even considered the possibility. "Really?" He asked. There was a reason why it hadn't occurred to him. "You think I should have called you? For a ride home? After everything that-" Liam swallowed, unsure how to finish the sentence. "After everything that happened between us?" Much more quietly, he let the next sentence follow. "After it stopped happening?"

 

For a second, Theo almost looked guilty, but he shook it off. The smile on his lips seemed forced and fragile. "Have I not always been there to help you, Liam?"

 

"You have," Liam agreed, because it was true, but it wasn't quite what he wanted Theo to be to him. An emergency contact saved in his phone. It wasn't right. Not for Theo.

 

His lips pursed, Theo eyed him like he was waiting to hear something more, but it was Theo who had retreated, who'd put distance in between them and never offered an explanation.

 

"Jesus, you're shaking like a leaf," Theo finally said. "Maybe a cup of tea isn't quite all you need, huh? Come with me."

 

Before Liam could answer, Theo had grabbed him by the arm and was dragging him out of the kitchen and down a hallway. He turned on a bright light and let some water run.

"Theo, you really don't need to-" He really didn't, did he? It seemed like a scenario that should have happened a long time ago if at all. If it was just a reminder of something Liam had lost, he'd rather not have it.

 

"You're going to get sick if you stay in those clothes," Theo argued. The bathtub was slowly filling and Theo added something bubbly and sweet to the water. Liam watched dumbly as Theo got a towel out of a cupboard. The little bathroom was all steamy by the time Theo reached for Liam's shirt.

 

"I can do that myself," he whispered, but he didn't fight against Theo's gentle hands.

 

"Let me," Theo whispered back, not looking into his eyes. Liam was tired.

 

Liam dropped his hands. It didn't feel like he was capable of moving them as carefully and efficiently as Theo was in his current state. A part of him wished for nothing more badly than for Theo to mean them, all the things that had never been said.

 

Theo wasn't trying to touch him as he pulled of the wet shirt over his head and threw it directly into the washing machine next to the sink. Liam tried not to think about it, because it was the most logical thing to do, but it also meant that he was staying for as long as it took to wash and dry his clothes. Theo's fingers at the button of his pants could have felt different, but all they did was get rid of the weight, and Liam was more than okay with that.

 

He let Theo turn him around with soft touches at his shoulders. The protest died on his lips as he stared down at foam and bubbles and warmth that he was craving. Theo's hands lingered at his waist for a second. "It's okay, " Liam whispered, because he really hoped that it was. Theo stripped him of his underwear too, and then he offered his arm to hold onto while Liam climbed into the bathtub.

 

The first few seconds were painful. The heat of the water and the cold in his bones clashed, stinging and prickling in Liam's legs, making him hiss and cling to Theo's arm until his frozen body got used to the warmth and he could slide into the water. Not exactly in the most elegant of ways, Liam sat down and sank back, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath out.

 

"I've got you," Theo promised, "just relax. Let me take care of you."

 

Even if Liam had wanted to, he couldn't fight it. He was too tired and too done with missing Theo.

 

Theo's hand and a washcloth brought Liam back to life, starting at his legs. It was all innocent. Liam was more afraid of Theo's affection going away again after they were done than he was of being naked in front of him, but the fear left him along with the stress and the cold and every single one of the worries on his mind, one at a time, as if Theo could simply wash them away.

 

With Theo's fingers in his hair, spreading shampoo and making his head less heavy, Liam knew that he would forgive him whatever had happened to drive them apart. A tear or two mixed into the water as Theo rinsed his hair, not out of sadness, quite the opposite. Theo might have been missing from Liam's life more than he'd known.

 

Liam was wrapped in a soft towel and lifted off of his feet and out of the water. Theo rubbed him dry, taking all the time in the world, like the universe ended at the doorstep to his bathroom and nothing mattered except Liam and Theo and peaceful silence, gentle hands on smooth skin, caring without wanting anything in return.

 

"Wait here," Theo told him. He disappeared for just a minute, and yet Liam felt like he was getting a taste of how hard it would be to leave the bubble Theo was crafting around the two of them. The other boy returned with a pair of boxer shorts and sweatpants, a hoodie that Liam had seen on Theo enough times to make his chest ache, and socks. Liam wanted to say thank you, but something was holding him back.

 

"Are you hungry?" Theo asked once Liam was fully dressed in a scent that was beautifully unlike his own.

 

The answer that didn't come because it would have been a lie was answer enough to Theo, who smiled and led Liam back to the kitchen carefully, although Liam's ankle wasn't hurting nearly as much after the bath as it had before.

 

"I was going to make pasta for myself. Sound good?"

 

Liam nodded, because when Theo talked to him with that voice of his, not just because it was Theo's voice, but because it was Theo's Liam-voice, deep and soft, it always sounded better than good to him.

 

A cup of peppermint tea was placed in front of him that he sipped away as he watched Theo chopping up tomatoes and carrots and an onion that gave him a really nice excuse for the puffy eyes he was sporting.

 

It tasted delicious, and Theo's couch was the most comfortable place Liam had ever been, and snuggled up against Theo's side, with an arm around him and a steady heartbeat matching his own, Liam could almost fall asleep. Almost.

 

"You were wrong," Liam whispered, waiting for Theo's question.

 

"I was," Theo said quietly. "But about what?"

 

"You said you've always been there to help me, right?"

 

"Have I not?"

 

"That's not the point," Liam said, shaking his head. "I don't want you to be my savior. I don't just need you when it's raining."

 

Theo swallowed and let out a breath that was shaky against Liam's hand on his chest. "What are you saying?"

 

"I want the sunshine days too," Liam explained. He didn't just want Theo to be there for him, waiting. He wanted Theo to be there. Right with him. Always. "Don't leave me again."

 

"I'm sorry," Theo replied. "I want the sunshine days too. I've wanted them since the first time I saw you. I just didn't know how. Clouds and rain are what I know better. But that's not your world, Liam, is it?"

 

Liam almost wanted to laugh. "For someone as smart as you are, you're also very, very stupid," he said.

 

"Probably."

 

Not exactly a love confession, but it was good enough for Liam to finally be able to close his eyes. They had a lot to talk about, but it could wait until the next morning. For the moment, all that Liam needed was Theo's body warmth and the steady sound of his heartbeat. A hand slowly stroking up and down his back made him feel like he was in the safest place to fall asleep, and dreams of sunshine pulled him under.

 

Theo stayed up to cradle Liam to sleep while looking at him, and then he called Liam's mom to let her know Liam was safe and sound, but wouldn't make it home. He carried Liam to bed and tucked him in carefully. Later, he fell asleep too, the two boys lying closer than ever before. Liam didn't learn all of this until the next day, when the sun was up and so was Theo, frying eggs and making toast.

 

"I don't think I want to go to school today," Liam said, his voice sleepy and hoarse. He was looking at Theo's bed head and thought he couldn't possibly leave, not right after he'd found everything that had been missing from him.

 

"You have to. You're trying to catch up, remember? You'll go and you'll give your best and Mason will help you. And after school I'll be there to take you home." Theo stepped closer and ruffled Liam's hair before he pulled him into a hug.

 

"Just so you know," Liam mumbled against Theo's neck, "if you find another nonsense reason to be stupid again and don't show up, I'll murder you in your sleep. I know where you live now."

 

"I'm probably done being stupid now," Theo whispered back, not without a laugh first, but he was serious.

 

"I'll probably see you later then."

 

"You probably will."

 

"Can I get a kiss before I have to leave?"

 

"Probably."

 

Liam laughed. The word was one thing, but Theo's hands around his waist were another, the soft look in his eyes and the slow, gentle, yet purposeful way he pulled Liam close. The brush of Theo's lips against Liam's didn't say  _ probably _ , and neither did the pressure when Liam kissed back.

 

Theo was going to be there after school, Liam knew it. Whatever it was between them, they'd figure it out. Theo would take care of him, like he'd always had. And Liam would take care of Theo too.

 

Probably.


End file.
